The conventional wisdom said it couldn't happen - but it happened; we have a referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU. The current political fallout introduces uncertainty. The likely state of future law has come into focus. In the online and ecommerce space however, we perhaps have more answers than you first think. In the famous words of once United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, there are some known knowns; but also some known unknowns!

Electronic commerce in the EU is not functioning as smoothly as it could. Earlier this week, the European Commission announced a tranche of proposed laws to support its ambition to create a Digital Single Market across the EU. These include a proposal for an "EU Regulation" to promote cross-border ecommerce between EU Member States. If the proposed Regulation becomes law, it will affect any business that trades online with consumer or business end user customers in the EU, whether the trader is based in or outside the EU.

Another day, another (likely) win for internet intermediaries. In yet another show-down between rights-holders and internet intermediaries, the AG has issued an opinion confirming that a provider of free, public Wi-Fi is not liable for copyright infringements committed by users of that Wi-Fi. Furthermore, while a court may still order an injunction against such a provider to prevent further infringements, that injunction may not include an obligation to monitor the Wi-Fi or password-protect it. While this is a victory for free Wi-Fi lovers across Europe, it highlights the legal (and practical) difficulty of enforcing IP in a digital age.